Buy M-Audio Axiom 49 49-Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with Semi-Weighted Keys and Assignable Control SurfaceM-Audio Axiom 49 49-Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with Semi-Weighted Keys and Assignable Control Surface Product Description:
- It features 49 piano-style, semi-weighted keys giving musically satisfying playing experience
- The 9 mixer-style faders and 8 smooth rotary encoders provides hands-on control over your DAW
- Angled top panel and centrally positioned LCD gives better ergonomics on stage and in the studio
- DirectLink mode provides automatically map onboard controls to DAW mixer paramenters and no complex setup required
- Axiom Instrutment Maps gives instant access to virtual instrutment parameters for a hardware synth-like experience
Product Description
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
"Semi-weighted" key action (compared to Axion Pro too)
By D. Wendel
A lot of people have reviewed this controller in terms of its integration with various DAWs. I'll just quickly say that with my ProTools M-Powered 8, integration was a breeze. I haven't fully figured out how to use all of the features, but at least using the faders for channels and the knobs for instruments is super easy. I haven't tried any of the advanced MIDI features yet because I'm not really interested in those features yet.The part I *am* interested in is using this controller as a keyboard. I want to play music for fun, and then record it. So I was looking for something that is a pleasure to play. And this is! I love playing virtual instruments through ProTools - the quality of the sounds is great just using the instruments that came for free with PT8 (Structure and Xpand in particular), and for far less money than you'd have to pay for a standalone synth. There is a tiny bit of lag sometimes, which is the downside of this type of setup, but it's weird - my brain compensates after a few seconds and I don't even notice it anymore.So the one thing left is the feel of the keys. Here's where I have mixed feelings. I like these a lot more than standard synth keys, but also less than piano keys (being a piano player first). You might say, "Well, that's semi-weighted!" and you'd be right, but there's more to it than that. These keys are hinged right at the top where the keys meet the console. So while playing in the key of C, the keys feel really nice - a little bit of resistance, but light enough to be very fast, and a solid but maybe slightly clicky feel at the bottom. I think that's what "semi-weighted" is supposed to feel like. But the key of Ab is different. If you're playing up on the keys (near the hinge) as you often would be when playing in "black keys" keys, it can be surprisingly more difficult to strike the note. If you do hit it hard enough, it's harder to control the force. The physics buffs out there can see why this would be - a short lever arm means more force is required but over a smaller distance.For folks who are interested in a comparison, I also tried the Axiom Pro 49. I didn't play it for as long (because I ended up not buying it), but I think the feel was ever so slightly mushier yet didn't display this short lever arm issue that this does. So I think I'd give the Pro a slight edge there. But it's also about $100 more, so take that into consideration.All in all, I give this four stars. For the price it is really great. The feel is WAY better than a $200 music room keyboard. But it's also not good enough to keep me from looking for something better. I think when I want to play with new synth or sampled instrument sounds, and definitely when I'm recording, this will be great. But when I have a little more space and money I'll be looking for something with a more consistent feel up and down the keys for my normal playing.
30 of 34 people found the following review helpful.
Terrible Support.
By Michael Creeth
See description/ other reviews for functionality and features. This review deals with their support.My Axiom 49 worked for about 6 months until it suffered from the dreaded "blue screen of death." In the case of axioms, this means that the screen backlight turns on, but the unit is still completely unresponsive. After a two month battle with their so called support, I got an RMA number and sent it back. When I received my "repaired" unit, it was still broken!BEWARE of their "support." They don't check that repaired units are working before they ship them back, that is after you pay for return shipping, of course. Disgusted. Appaled. Horrified. BEWARE.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful.Mapping to Cakewalk, Sonar
By K. Rogers
This is a nice midi controller. A word of warning though if you are a Cakewalk, Sonar user.Since this is a brand new version of the Axiom 49, the software writers at Roland have not had time to write code for all the functions it provides.As a result, the Direct Link that M-audio is advertising does not work on Cakewalk Sonar up thru version 8.5.This means you will need to hand map some of the controller buttons to your DAW if you want them to function.It does auto-map in some DAWs like the latest versions of Pro tools, Ableton Live to name a couple.I was unaware of this when I purchased it so I went thru a lot of frustration trying to figure out how the thing is supposed to work. Documentation is sparse so I relied on the internet especially YouTube to help me thru it.I like the controller over all. It is solidly built and is of good quality. The keys and drum pads work very well.It will be even better when the software technology catches up to it.
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